Computers have become commonplace tools in modern society, and many businesses and residences now have one or more computing devices. In a small business, for example, some employees may each use a desktop computer or laptop computer. Some employees may even use more portable computers such as personal digital assistants or “smart” wireless telephones. Similarly, with a family sharing a residence, each family member may have his or her personal computer, or the family members may share one or more computers. Further, both small businesses and personal residences may include various computing appliances that incorporate or otherwise interact with computers. For example, a home residence may include a refrigerator, a “Voice over Internet Protocol” telephone, a digital music server, a digital camera, or an environmental control system that includes or interacts with a computer.
In order to optimize the use and flexibility of these computing devices, a business or family may link them together to form a small private network. Typically, each of the computing devices is connected to a router through a network adapter. The router then “routes” packets of data to and from each computing device. With this type of small private network, the router can in turn be connected to one or more larger private networks or a public networks, such as the Internet. By sending and receiving messages through the router, each networked computing device may then communicate with computing devices outside of the private network. In this arrangement, the router serves as a “gateway” device that provides a gateway to outside of the private network. In many situations, a computer user may interact with more than one such network. For example, a person using a laptop computer may join a first network at his or her employment during the day, and join a second, different network at his or her residence in the evening.
As the use of networked computing devices grows, some product developers have created products to facilitate the setup, use, and functionality of private networks. One such product is the Port Magic product from Pure Networks Corporation of Seattle, Wash. The Port Magic product, for example, allows a network user to interrogate and control the use of communication ports in a small network's router.
Because this type of product benefits an entire small network rather than just an individual computer, it often would be more appropriate to associate the usage costs for the product (such as licensing fees or a sales charge) with the network, rather than with a single computer. Accordingly, it would be desirable to create a unique identifier for a network. Moreover, as the computing devices within a network may frequently change, it would be desirable to allow any computer in the network to independently create the unique identifier. Previous techniques for generating this type of unique key have required complex collaboration between each computer on the network. Still further, it would be desirable to allow the unique identifier to be consistently created over time, regardless of the particular make up of the computing devices in the network at any particular point time.